Slitting and rewinding machine

ABSTRACT

A slitting and rewinding machine, wherein a relatively wide web of material, such as paper or plastics film, is slit into a plurality of narrower webs which are then rewound into individual rolls, comprises, at a rewind station thereof, at least one pair of roll support assemblies carrying a plurality of individual roll carriers, the assemblies being pivotable and arrangeable in a first configuration wherein one assembly is in a rewind position and the other assembly is in an unload position and a second configuration wherein the positions of the assemblies are reversed, enabling a second run of the machine to take place whilst full individual rolls are removed from the inoperative assembly, so reducing machine downtime and increasing productivity.

United States Patent I 1191 Plevin SLITTING AND REWINDING MACHINE [75]Inventor: Harold Plevin, Hyde, England [73] Assignee: C. A. HarndenLimited, Hyde,

England [22] Filed: Nov. 3, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 195,172

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. I6, 1970 Great Britain59,749/70 [52] US. Cl. 242/56.2 [51] -Int. Cl B65h 35/02 [581' Field ofSearch 242/562, 56.3, 56.4, 242/565, 566 56.7, 56.9, 56 A, 55, 42, 80,58

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2202,88 6/l940 Yoder 242/80X 3,603.52l )ll97l Ormsby 242/562 2,698,359 12/1954 Roberts.. 242/56.4-X

[ Dec. 18, 1973 2,827,961 3/1958 Pugh 242/565 Primary Examiner-John W.Huckert Assistant ExaminerEdward J. McCarthy Attorney-Kenwood Ross etal.

[ ABSTRACT A slitting and rewinding machine, wherein a relatively wideweb of material, such as paper or plastics film, is slit into aplurality of narrower webs which are then rewound into individual rolls,comprises, at a rewind station thereof, at least one pair of rollsupport assemblies carrying a plurality of individual roll carriers, theassemblies being pivotable and arrangeable in a first configurationwherein one assembly is in a rewind position and the other assembly isin an unload position and a second configuration wherein the positionsof the assemblies are reversed, enabling a second run of the machine totake place whilst full individual rolls are removed from the inoperativeassembly, so reducing machine downtime and increasing productivity.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDDEC 18 I975 SHEET 10F 2 .i W m E E EE r:

E 5 FL PMENIED 18 1 3,779,475 SHEET 20? 2 Fig. 2.

. 1 su'r'rrNG AND REWINDING MACHINE FIELD OF THE INVENTION DISCUSSION OFTHE PRIOR ART OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is-an object of the presentinvention to provide in a slitting and rewindingmachine means wherebythe above mentioned disadvantageis minimized and which can have a higherproductivity and lower downtime than known machines.

Accordingly the invention provides a slitting and'rewinding machinehaving, at a rewind station thereof, at least one pair of roll supportassemblies each comprising an elongate support and a plurality ofindividual roll carriers mounted on the support, each pair of assembliesbeing mounted for pivotal movement about an axis at or adjacentrespective one ends thereof. so that the assemblies can be arranged in afirst configuration wherein one of the assemblies is-in a rewindposition and the other of the assemblies is in an unload position, and asecond configuration wherein the other of the assemblies is in therewind position and the said one of the assemblies is in the unloadposition.

Advantageously eachpair of assemblies are mounted for pivotal movementabout vertical axes disposed symmetrically about a centre line of themachine and spaced apart by a distance slightly greater than the lengthof the supports. In the last mentioned embodiment, that support which isin the rewind position extends across the width of the machine generallyin the plane defined by the two axes and that support which is in theunload position is disposed so as to extendgenerally at right angles tothe support which is in the rewind position and generally parallel tothe centre line of the machine.

The invention is applicable to slitting and rewinding machines employingsurface winding, i.e., where a web is wound onto a roll by friction atcontact with, say, a rewind drum, centre winding, i.e., where a -web iswound onto a roll by a driven central axle or spindle of FIG. 1 is aside view, partly in section, of a preferred embodiment of slitting andrewinding machine conforming to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the machine FIG. 1.

'A preferred embodiment of slitting and rewinding 4 machine conformingto the invention comprises an unwind station 10, which is not relevantto the present invention and is not fully shown, whence a relativelywide web 11 of material is drawn from a relatively wide roll 12, aslitting station 13, where the wide web 11 is slit into a number ofnarrow webs 14, 15 in conventional manner, e.g., by razor-blade typeslitters 16 or by rothe roll, or machines employing a combination ofsurface and centre winding.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT tary scissor-type slitters, and arewind station 17 where the narrow webs 14, 15 are rewound intoindividual rolls 18, 19. After thefslitting station the narrow webs aredivided into two sets 14, 15 and led to the rewind station 17 whichcomprises two rewind drums 20, 21 extending across the machine andspaced one above the other. The webs 14 and. 15 are led to drums 20, 21respectively. 7

- The rewind station 17 comprises a pair of roll support assemblies 22,23 which are pivotable about vertical axes 24, 25 respectively spaced atopposite sides of the machine.- The assemblies 22, 23 are essentiallyidentical and only one, thereof will be described in detail.

The roll support assembly 22 comprises two elongate supports in the formof horizontally disposed beams 26, 27 each of which carries a pluralityof individual roll carriers 28. Each roll carrier 28 comprises a pair ofgenerally L-shaped flat plates 29 spaced apart by a distancecorresponding to the width of the narrow webs l4 and is pivotallyattached by a bracket to its respective beam 26, 27 at its lower end.The upper ends of the plates 29 mount a spindle 30 carrying a core 31onto which a narrow roll 18 can be wound.

The assembly 22 is mounted (as will be later described) so that when itis in its' rewind position its beams 26, 27 are disposed below the levelof the respective rewind drums 20, 21 and each roll carrier 28 isinfluenced by a pneumatic or hydraulic ram 32 so as to press itsrespective roll 18 against the adjacent rewind drum 20 or 21 so that anarrow web 14 or 15 passing around a part of the periphery of therespective rewin'd 'drum 20, 21 can be rewound'thereonto'by surfacewinding. Each roll carrier 28 is provided with a hydraulic, electric orpneumatic motor (not shown) which drives the spindle 30. The machinethus employs a combination of surface and centre winding.

Control apparatus (not shown) for each roll carrier 28 is mounted on therespective beam below each roll carrier 28 and connections between thecontrol apparatus and sources of compressed air and/or'hydraulic fluidand/or electric current, are made by means of flexible interconnections(not shown).

The assemblies 22, 23 are mounted for pivotal movement about theirrespective vertical axes 24, 25 at or adjacent respective one endsthereof and disposed adjacent respective ends of the rewind drums 20,21. The axes 24, 25 are spaced apart by a distance greater than thelength of the beams 26, 27 so that the assemblies 22, 23 can be arrangedin a first configuration (illustrated in full lines in FIG. 2) whereinthe assembly 22 is in a rewind position, i.e., its beams 26, 27 aredisposed substantially parallel to the rewind'drums 20, 21 andindividual rolls 18 can be wound thereon and, dur-' ing winding, can bepressed into contact with the drums 20, 21 by the pneumatic rams, andthe other assembly 23 is in an unload position, i.e., is disposedsubstantially at right angles to the assembly 22; and a secondconfiguration (illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 2) wherein theassembly 23 is in the rewind position and the assembly 22 is in theunload position indicated by the reference numeral 34. Movement of theassemblies 22, 23

about the axes 24, 25 is effected by means of hydraulic or pneumaticrams 37, 38 acting on respective bent round lever portions 39, 40integral with the assemblies 22, 23.

The lower extremities of the assemblies 22, 23 are provided with rollers35, 36 for supporting the weight of the assemblies during movementthereof. Tracks (not shown) can be provided on a floor adjacent themachine or 'on a part of a frame or base ofthe machine for permittingeasy movement of the rollers 35, 36. Locking devices can, of course, beprovided for locking each assembly in its rewind position.

The mode of operation of the assemblies 22, 23 will now be described. I

At the start of a run'a relatively wide web 1 1 of material, e.g., paperor plastics film, is fed from the unwind station to a plurality ofslitters 16 at slitting station 13. At the slitters 16 the wide web 11is'slit into a plu rality of narrow webs of desired width which aredivided into two sets 14 and 15 and led to the surfaces of therespective rewind drums 20, 21 and attached to the cores 31 carried bythe spindles 30 of'the roller carriers 18 of the assembly 22 which is inthe rewind position. The cores 31 are short hollow cylinders, e. g., ofcardboard or plastics material, and the narrow webs are attachedthereto.

The machine is now run until the individual narrow rolls 18 have builtup on cores 31 and reached a desired diameter or until the unwind drum10 is empty. The machine is now stopped, the individual webs 14, 15 aresevered and the assembly 22 is pivoted about its axis 24 by means of theram 37 to the unload position. The assembly 23 is now swung about itsaxis 25 from the unload to the rewind position by means of ram 38 and afresh run commenced. The full rolls on the assembly 22 can now beunloaded while the fresh run is in progress and removed, convenientlyonto a conveyor extending parallel to the machine and perhaps servingone or more machines. Empty cores can noW be reloaded into thisassembly.

When the said fresh run is completed the configuration of the assembliesis again changed and a further run commenced. It will be appreciatedthat the machine of the invention does not have to stand idle-whilstfilled individual rolls 18 are removed therefrom and new cores 31inserted and thus enables greater productivity to be achieved.

The invention is not limited to the precise details of the abovedescribed embodiment and variations may be made thereto within the scopeof the invention. For example, the invention is not limited to machinesemploying both surface and centre Winding and can be applied to machinesemploying either one of these alone.

The assemblies need not be pivotable about vertical axes and can bepivoted about any convenient, axes at or adjacent respective endsthereof.

The assemblies need not be limited to pivotal movement through andcould, if so desired, be pivotable through or any other practical angle.

In a machine employing a single rewind drum two pairs of assemblies canbe provided on each side thereof the roll carriers of each pair bearingon a respective side of the drum. Each assembly in this case willcomprise a single beam supporting a single row of roll-carriers. Afterslitting the two sets of narrow webs 14, 15 will be led one to eachassembly that is in the rewind position. When rolls 18 have been builtup these two assemblies will be swung away from the rewind drum and thetwo idle -assemblies swung into their places.

I claim:

1. A rewinding section-of a slitting machine for accomodating to theslitting of a relatively wide web of material into a plurality ofnarrower webs windable into individual rolls cimprising:

a pair of roll support assemblies disposed adjacent the slitting machineand each including an elongated support and a plurality of individualroll carriers mounted on the support,

the assemblies each being pivotable about an axis adjacent one end ofthe slitting machine and arrangeable between a first configurationwherein one assembly is extendable across the machine in a rewindingposition for the winding of the webs onto the cores thereof and theother assembly is in an unload position and a second configurationwherein the positions of the assemblies are reversed, pair of rewinddrums spaced one above the other with the pair of roll supportassemblies being disposed on one side thereof, each roll supportassembly comprising a pair of parallel supports each carrying aplurality of roll carriers, the roll carriers of one support beingcapable of contacting one of the rewind drums and the roll carriers ofthe other support being capable of contacting the other of the rewinddrums. Y

2. A rewinding section of a slitting machine for accomodating to theslitting of a relatively wide web of material into a plurality ofnarrower webs windable into individual rolls comprising:

a pair of roll support assemblies disposed adjacent the slitting machineand each including an elongated support and a plurality of individualroll carriers mounted on the support,

the assemblies each being pivotable about an axis adjacent one end ofthe slitting machine and arrangeable between a first configurationwherein one assembly is extendable across the machine in a rewindposition for the winding of the webs onto the cores thereof and the,other assembly is in an unload position and a second configurationwherein the positions of the assemblies are reversed,

the pair of assemblies being mounted for pivotal movement about verticalaxes disposed symmetrically about a centerline of the machine and spacedapart by a distance slightly greater than the length of the respectivesupports, and the end of each assembly remote from its pivot beingprovided with a support roller.

1. A rewinding section of a slitting machine for accomodating to theslitting of a relatively wide web of material into a plurality ofnarrower webs windable into individual rolls cimprising: a pair of rollsupport assemblies disposed adjacent the slitting machine and eachincluding an elongatEd support and a plurality of individual rollcarriers mounted on the support, the assemblies each being pivotableabout an axis adjacent one end of the slitting machine and arrangeablebetween a first configuration wherein one assembly is extendable acrossthe machine in a rewinding position for the winding of the webs onto thecores thereof and the other assembly is in an unload position and asecond configuration wherein the positions of the assemblies arereversed, a pair of rewind drums spaced one above the other with thepair of roll support assemblies being disposed on one side thereof, eachroll support assembly comprising a pair of parallel supports eachcarrying a plurality of roll carriers, the roll carriers of one supportbeing capable of contacting one of the rewind drums and the rollcarriers of the other support being capable of contacting the other ofthe rewind drums.
 2. A rewinding section of a slitting machine foraccomodating to the slitting of a relatively wide web of material into aplurality of narrower webs windable into individual rolls comprising: apair of roll support assemblies disposed adjacent the slitting machineand each including an elongated support and a plurality of individualroll carriers mounted on the support, the assemblies each beingpivotable about an axis adjacent one end of the slitting machine andarrangeable between a first configuration wherein one assembly isextendable across the machine in a rewind position for the winding ofthe webs onto the cores thereof and the other assembly is in an unloadposition and a second configuration wherein the positions of theassemblies are reversed, the pair of assemblies being mounted forpivotal movement about vertical axes disposed symmetrically about acenterline of the machine and spaced apart by a distance slightlygreater than the length of the respective supports, and the end of eachassembly remote from its pivot being provided with a support roller.